Affiliation:
1. Centro de Biotecnología‐FEMSA Tecnologico de Monterrey Monterrey NL 64849 México
2. Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) 1018 Westwood Blvd Los Angeles CA 90094 USA
3. Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA 90095 USA
4. Departamento de Ingeniería Mecatrónica y Eléctrica Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias Tecnologico de Monterrey Monterrey NL 64849 México
Abstract
AbstractHydrogel droplets with inner compartments are valuable in various fields, including tissue engineering. A droplet‐based biofabrication method is presented for the chaos‐assisted production of architected spheres (CAPAS) for the rapid generation of multilayered hydrogel spheres (ranging from 0.6 to 3.5 mm in diameter) at high‐throughput rates (up to 2000 spheres per min). This method is based on the use of chaotic advection generated by a Kenics static mixer (KSM) nozzle. The configuration of the KSM (i.e., the number of mixing elements) determines the number of compartments within the sphere. Sphere size is adjusted by flow rate, printhead outlet diameter, polymer concentration (sodium alginate or gelatin‐methacryloyl (GelMA)), and crosslinking bath composition. This versatile system operates in dripping and jetting modes, preserving multilayered architecture in both modes. Proof‐of‐concept experiments with breast cancer (MDA‐MB‐231), human dermal fibroblast (HDF), and murine myoblast (C2C12) lines show over 80% cell viability immediately post‐fabrication, maintained over extended culture (14 or 30 days). CAPAS is used to create a breast cancer model with cancer‐tissue‐like and healthy‐tissue‐like micro‐niches to test paclitaxel doses. It is envisioned that CAPAS will enable high‐throughput fabrication of hydrogel spheres for tissue engineering, chemical engineering, and material sciences applications.
Funder
Sistema Nacional de Investigadores
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey